TOL ~ 3/7

A millennia of effort created land bridges between each of the continents, as well as huge floating growth platforms which spanned to every island on Eather. 

Less than a hundred years after he had begun, Maine had once more found Duality—Parting as she liked to be called—and was finally able to join her as she traveled the world. Their reunion was joyful, and less than a handful of decades later he was able to introduce her to Motion. Together with Durability, the four recounted their experiences and became fast friends, with Maine being able to transmit their conversations across the world at conceptual speed. 

{I never have to be alone again.} Maine happily chattered to his stoic, stony friend as the Eidolon of Durability hunkered down for a multi-year meditation on what it meant to be living stone. {This is spectacular.}

Decades flew by as the Tree of Life's roots continued their endless expansion, creating small islands of foliage atop the oceans. Other sections prodded lesser elementals into action, coating his roots in more dangerous areas with protective sheaths of metal, stone, or even pure force so they could delve into active volcanoes, thermal vents, and boiling waters.

Since Maine had managed to cover the surface of the planet, he had made himself a new goal: reach the center.

It was difficult, as everything from pressure to lack of available nutrients made it seemingly impossible to expand in certain areas. But there was always a workaround he could find, or one of his growing cadre of intelligent Eidolons could offer. The fifth member of his friend group, Nobility, had been the one to realize the latent potential of the lesser beings around them—they were tools with potential they had been overlooking.

When the pressure became too much, a lesser elemental would be sunk through the surface of the world following his roots until it was pushed to create a cave. Elementals of light would be pressed into service, dancing through this area, and this area only, to provide the light necessary for a subspecies of Maine to grow and adjust itself to the conditions. Only one in every thousand saplings had the necessary mutations to survive, but when they did, the expansion could continue further.

Deep in the planet, powerful lava elementals roamed back and forth, refusing to be tamed thanks to a combination of their fiery personalities combined with the stubborn traits of their rocky origins. They could only be worked around, the lesser versions keeping his roots and Deeptrees—as Maine called them—safe from destruction by the powerful forces at play.

It was only as he approached the center of Eather that he found the sixth intelligent Eidolon for his group, a continent-sized liquid metal elemental which seemed to find his efforts at finding the center of the planet utterly hilarious. 

*Imagine! A plant swimming through fire just to figure out what's at the center of it all. This is the best thing I have ever seen in all my millennia. Here, let me make it easy for you—a tunnel your roots can swim through, caves you can grow trees within, safe passage to the center. My only request… connect me with the others. I've gone quite mad down here all alone. Wuahaha!*

The molten outer core of the planet, Complaisance, was indeed quite insane. But even madness was new, informative, and expanded the minds of his group. They learned many, many new concepts from the deep Eidolon as she powerfully and ceaselessly rambled. 

Several more years, and hundreds of iterations of failed saplings passed in this way, with the group growing closer and sharing their new knowledge and experiences. Thanks to the tunnel provided by Complaisance, it only took a few decades between finding trees which would survive in the deepest depths until the roots finally reached the core of the world.

Passing through the outer membrane of bubbling liquid, Maine slowly wrapped around the object at the exact center of the world, an utterly perfect gem which had been shaped by eons of heat and pressure. Unsurprisingly, at least to the tree, when he touched the gem, he felt an ancient mind studying him. {Hello, fellow Eidolon. You don't have to be alone any longer.}

Unlike all attempts with other intelligent entities, this greeting was observed, noted, and ignored. The core of Eather touched on the bond Maine created for each of the others, insight and mental power racing out and analyzing each of them before receding and retreating back to its original position.

Maine felt shaken, his sensory organs expanding widely as he realized the new Eidolon could have easily crushed their minds—all of them at the same time. He would have never realized what happened. For a few long years, he considered pulling his roots away… but could never muster up the willingness to leave one of his kind in the dark, alone, forever.

With their goal of reaching every part of the planet and bringing it together completed, six of the seven Eidolon’s celebrated together until they got bored of it, while the last one simply watched through its facets. Then, Complaisance asked a question which sent Maine reeling.

So, you’ve got the whole world all wrapped up, and you’ve explored the deepest depths. Now what?